239
Registration branch
Personnel at i February 1958:
registrars 32
administrative and clerical staff: 512
Transactions 1953/1957:
number of documents transcribed (transfers, etc.): 612,000
number of documents recorded (mortgage deeds) 452,400
Surveying branch
Personnel at 1 February 1958: 1218 (including 225 'landmeters').
Number of lots constituted 1953/1957
by the surveying service 378,000
by the service for special surveying operations and the reallot-
ment service 64,000
Number of new cadastral plans (surveys) made 1953/1957:
scale 1500 11000 12000 12500 15000
by way of revision 5 750 21 20 65
by way of reallotment 1 38 310 74 1
For comparison it may be noted that the territory of the Netherlands
is about 33,500 square kilometers (12.800 sq.m.) and that the population
numbers about 11 million.
2. Legal basis
Land registration in the Netherlands is governed by an 'incomplete
negative' system. Negative, because without transcription of a deed in the
public registers there can be no transfer of real property, but transcription
does not guarantee that the published deed is valid in law. Incomplete nega
tive, because not all changes in ownership require transcription of a deed in
the public registers (e.g., in case of succession, combination of estates, sep
aration, legacy).
Under this system a third party proceeding on the assumption that the
transcription records valid title is generally not protected. The negative
system implies a passive attitude on the part of the registrar, which means
that as a matter of principle this official does not investigate the deeds of
fered to him for publication and that he must not refuse such publication.
After the introduction of the civil code (Burgerlijk Wetboek) the nineteenth
century saw action from various sides in favour of a positive system, up
holding the principle that a third party should in general be allowed to
trust what has been published in the public registers. This battle has now
subsided. In 1953 the question was put before parliament in connection
with preparations for a new civil code as to whether the negative system
ought to be continued. The discussion proved that it was generally felt
that the negative system should remain in force, as realization of the positive
system entails extensive administrative action, whereas the existing system
in spite of its theoretical drawbacks does not cause undue difficulty in prac
tice. It was thought that the system should be improved to the effect that
third parties acting in good faith on the strength of what has been published
in the register should be protected under certain conditions. The draft for
a new civil code consequently includes a clause saying that no person may
hold against a third party any fact which he might have published but
which was not thus published, unless the third party might have been aware
of such fact from other publications or announcements.
That the negative system in practice presents no difficulty at all is largely
due to the fact that the registrar informs parties concerned when he discovers
defects in a deed, and also due to the conscientiousness with which the notary
public or conveyancer establishes a deed which must be executed before a
notary under article 671 of the Burgerlijk Wetboek (inserted with effect
from 15 August 1956 by act dated 28 June 1956, Staatsblad 376) in case of
transfer of real property and of establishment of title to real estate.